Most recently, the media was full of messages: "Turkish tomatoes are back." What happened? Have the sanctions been lifted? Is the government establishing relations with the southern neighbor? These and other issues will be discussed further.
Official announcement
According to the Minister of Economy, from December 1 this year, the ban on the import of certain agricultural products is lifted. Earlier it was already allowed to import lettuce, zucchini and eggplant. This time we discussed Turkish tomatoes.
Only four Turkish enterprises fell under the mercy of the Russian government. The official message came from the lips of the head of the Ministry of Energy Alexander Novak. He noted that a simple permit to import Turkish tomatoes is not enough. On the Russian side, it is necessary to prepare a number of documents, as well as to create a sanitary control service.
How much was allowed to import
Despite the fact that the government has lifted sanctions on Turkish tomatoes, they will not appear in the country en masse. In total, 50 thousand tons of products are allowed to be imported. This is quite enough to provide the central European regions. Regions of the Northand the Far East will receive only partial shipments. Tomatoes from Azerbaijan, Morocco and China will remain available for them.
Experts note: despite the fact that the embargo on Turkish tomatoes was introduced back in 2016, they still ended up on Russian shelves. This was done fraudulently through a reimport. What does this mean?
It's pretty simple. Consider an example. There is such a country - Azerbaijan, which imports most of the fruits and vegetables to us. His volume of tomatoes was not enough to replace the share of Turkish products, and he bought tomatoes in Ankara and imported them into Russia, passing them off as his own.
Tight control
President of the National Union of Producers Sergei Korolev expressed his concerns about the control of the number of tomatoes. He is sure that 50 thousand tons is not the limit, and the Russian market needs much more. Now, in the early stages of the resumption of relations, it will still be possible to control supplies, but in a year the share of shadow imports will increase.
Through Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan, 150-200 thousand tons of Turkish tomatoes enter the Russian market annually, which causes significant damage to the economy, since it is considered a shadow one. In addition, the ability to control the quality of such products is excluded.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev assures that it is absolutely unprofitable to buy tomatoes and then resell them. The average price per kilogram of juicy fruits from Turkey is $ 1.15, and in Russia they have their ownsells for $0.97. Thus, it makes no sense to buy high and sell low.
Struggle for quality
On social networks, one could often see flashy headlines that goods imported from Turkey are of very poor quality. This applied not only to vegetables, but also to furniture, clothing and everyday goods. The situation was assessed by Alexander Kalinin, Director General of the National Consumer Rights Protection Fund.
Marriage and quality inconsistency Rospotrebnadzor finds in goods imported not only from neighboring countries, but also from the countries of the European Union and South America. As of 2017, in the past 12 months, there was only one incident with a Turkish poultry farm, in whose products an increased amount of Listeria was found. Negotiations were held and the situation was corrected.
In general, the quality of Turkish tomatoes is very high. This is noted not only by employees of Rospotrebnadzor, but also by our compatriots who miss delicious tomatoes. And if any violations are found, the issues are resolved very simply. Representatives of quality supervision companies negotiate with Turkish enterprises, express their wishes or concerns, and the other side, in turn, corrects the shortcomings.
Benefit for Russia
Importing tomatoes in the off-season is beneficial for both our country and our southern neighbor. Domestic farmers have nothing to offer in winter and spring. In the summer and autumn seasons, Russian farmers make up a goodcompetition to the Turks, since vegetables are harvested on open ground, tomatoes are of high quality, while the price for them is significantly lower than that of imported counterparts.
Experts believe that Russian farmers will be alarmed by such a decision. With Turkish tomatoes returning to the market, many domestic producers will have to lower prices, which will reduce profitability and possibly bankrupt some small vegetable farms.
Tomato market in Russia
In general, the forecasts and the situation on the tomato market in Russia over the past 2-3 years are disappointing. When the embargo on Turkish vegetables was introduced in 2016, the government of our country was sure that it would be possible to cover the shortage with the help of domestic producers. But that did not happen. The Republic of Dagestan has the highest productivity indicators. Over the past year, its sown lands yielded a crop of 3,323 thousand tons. A new industrial park "Avangard" was launched near Khabarovsk with the participation of Japanese investors. A crop of tomatoes was harvested here in the amount of 1.4 thousand tons. For example, the need for these vegetables in the Khabarovsk Territory alone is 160,000 tons.
In 2015-2017, the sown area decreased by 1.2%, and the yield decreased by 2.8%. In general, the volume of domestic products exceeds imported ones by 6.3 times.
In total, 2839 thousand tons of red vegetables were harvested in Russia in 2016. 80% of this number are tomatoes harvested from open ground, and 20% - grown in greenhouses.
Tomato consumption last year decreased by 4.7% compared to 2015. This is due to two factors. The first is a decrease in purchasing power, the second is the imposition of an embargo on Turkish tomatoes. The indicator of the consumption of juicy vegetables per capita in 2016 was 23.9 kg per year, which is 2.3% less than the previous result.
Import and export of tomatoes in Russia
The Russian government has instructed to meet the needs of the domestic market on its own. This led to a decrease in imports. Naturally, these facts have a positive effect on the development of farms (especially the greenhouse business), the areas of which have increased. But agricultural enterprises are constantly faced with a number of problems that do not give the opportunity to develop. First of all, there is a lack of financial support or investment partners.
Today, imports account for 24% of the total market. After Turkish tomatoes disappeared in Russia, vegetables from Morocco (88.7 thousand tons were imported in 2016) and Azerbaijan (86 thousand tons) became the main "foreigners" on the counter. But still, the efforts of these and other countries failed to fully cover the shortage of imported vegetables.
As for exports, our country sells goods mainly to its neighbor Ukraine, but these transactions are not regular, but episodic.
History of relations Moscow - Ankara
Since 2003, relations between Russia and Turkey have been friendly. Since May 2010, there has been a visa-free regime. But everything has changedafter one embarrassing incident.
In November 2015, a Russian Su-24 fighter was shot down on the territory of the southern neighbor. According to the enemy side, he violated the borders of Turkey and was considered an enemy. Recall that in 2015 Russia took part in the settlement of the Syrian conflict.
After that, all military relations between Moscow and Ankara were terminated. The Ministry of Tourism recommended fellow citizens not to travel to the resorts of the enemy side, and after a while, tour operators suspended the sale of tours in this direction.
But that's not all. Most importantly, an embargo was imposed on the import of many consumer goods, and tomatoes were among them.
In 2016, Turkish Prime Minister R. Erdogan made attempts to renew relations. Negotiations were held on the resumption of the visa-free regime. At this stage of relations, trade relations are being established. Many vegetable categories are now available for purchase.
Conclusions
Turkish tomatoes are returning to Russia from December 1, 2017. This decision was made thanks to the thaw in relations between Ankara and Moscow, which had been strained for a long time. As the study showed, the Russian market needs imported vegetables, because at the moment domestic producers cannot fully meet consumer demand. There is hope that the resumption of relations will bring positiveresult, and, perhaps, our compatriots will again be able to fly to overseas resorts without visas. In the meantime, let's enjoy the taste of juicy tomatoes and eggplants.
